Sequestration

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guidosfans

5-Year Member
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My DS has been at sea on A split since November. I have not seen any communications regarding if and how Sequestration will impact the USMMA. What is the school saying? Will the professors and the rest of the staff be furloughed?
 
This has been brought up before. If you do a search of the forum you may be able to get a concise answer. Since no one has chimed in yet I will get the ball rolling.

Short answer: no

As I understand it ( a big disclaimer there) the budget the academy is running was already appropriated therefore is not on the cutting table. I beleive ( disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer) if the budget was up for approval that measure would be tabled until normalcy resumes.

If it were to effect one academy it would effect ( affect?) them all and we would see plenty-o-discussion here on this matter.
However since the big three are DOD, CGA is Homeland Security and USMMA is DOT maybe it is not one size fits all but I believe the answer is still the same, no.

Lastly, there is a satirical piece about this topic I have seen posted elsewhere. But if you take a look at the article you would be quick to deduce it as satire.

I hope a confirmation of my deductions or the real answer is forthcoming.

I just hate to hear of an unanswered question! :redface: my motto seems to be, why use one word when twenty will do nicely. ( quote I recently heard and love)
Cheers
 
Unless it is specifically exempt, it will feel some cuts.

Is that furloughs? No idea, that's dept. by dept., agency by agency.

Federal employees should hear this week, certainly by Friday, about furloughs. They wouldn't be immediate. There is typically a 30-120 day period for union notification (why? I don't know, someone made it happen years ago)...

USMMA and USCGA will feel the cuts too.
 
I was just talking to my DS, who is at USNA, about this yesterday. The civilian teachers have been told they may not be coming back in the fall, and the mids were told that summer training could be cancelled and replaced by summer school.
 
A number of organizations can deal with the cuts in 2013.... it's when they continue into FY2014 budget time that it starts to really look bad.
 
There may be furloughs for those considered non-essential personnel. Hopefully this will not occur since KP works with very limited staff in comparison to the other academies however if there are issues, these folks will be the first to experience the furloughs.
 
My take.

All have valid points, here are my thoughts, and perspective.

This "big cut" of which some speak, is actually only a cut in future expenditures and not currently appropriated budgets. $85 billion is a small fraction of $3 trillion + overall budget. Some of the cuts can come from not filling positions that are/will be open soon. KP just appointed a deputy superintendent, so they added a body. Further each dept (Homeland, Transportation, Defense, etc) has to make equal cuts, but there is nothing that says each secretary must cut equally within his/her dept. We've heard alot about the FAA, but very little about anything else with Transportation Dept. You would think, each secretary would trim the spots where trimming is needed/can be done. It seems to me (what do I know!) USMMA is already operating on a shoestring budget. I'm also fairly certain they are tightening admissions, which will result in smaller incoming '19 class. That in and of itself will constitute a cut in future expenditures. Cannot imagine KP will be unscathed, but perhaps (hopefully) they have already accounted for some of this. I don't know anything about summer school vs. summer training
 
I can't speak to potential cuts at KP. But it is a misconception that cuts will not affect current budgets. My husband, a DoD civilian employee, has been told he will be furloughed one day per week for the remainder of the fiscal year. That will take effect 30 days after he receives official notification of the cut. We anticipate that notice any day and have already begun to adjust our household expenditures to absorb the 20% cut in income. The person who works in the office with my husband is in a worse situation. He is working on a contract that went into effect last June. We still don't know if that contract will be honored, or if he will lose his job.

I'm sure the admin at KP has plans in place, or is in the process of doing the necessary planning. But it is not safe to assume that you won't see any impact. And if my DD was still attending I would be asking questions about how this will affect equipment, capitol improvements, facilities maintenance, and Sea Year.
 
Cuts or spending limits will certainly affect 2013.

For furloughs, the 30 days (in some cases 120 days or so, in other departments) is for union notification.
 
Sequestation has been in effect since Oct 1. Since they are currently operating under a Continuing Resolution, everyone's budget has already been "cut" 8% in DCspeak. Since we have done Continuing Resolutions for last six years running, we have actually had "Sequestration" for the last six years running. It is actually the norm. Everyone knows all year that it's coming and it has very little real affect.

Not to diminish the real affect it will have on real people, but any and all furloughs at this point are the result of poor management and/or political posturing, not pretend budget cuts.
 
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KPEngineer said:
Sequestation has been in effect since Oct 1. Since they are currently operating under a Continuing Resolution, everyone's budget has already been "cut" 8% in DCspeak. Since we have done Continuing Resolutions for last six years running, we have actually had "Sequestration" for the last six years running. It is actually the norm. Everyone knows all year that it's coming and it has very little real affect.

Any and all furloughs at this point are the result of poor management and/or political posturing, not pretend budget cuts.
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Not exactly. We've been in a continuing resolution for the past six years, but that's not "sequestration." It's true that, running up to a budget deadline, there have been talks of closures and furloughs, but that's not what this is.

Not have there been 8% cuts, or spending limits, over the past 6 years.

That said, the fact that we've had to use continuing resolutions to have ANY budgets, and the fact that they may very well enter the sequestration storm... is an absolute failure of the system.

Cuts need to happen. That's 100% true, but the fact that President Obama and Congress couldn't figure out a way to provide more organized, but large, cuts it a failure to both.
 
LineInTheSand said:
Not exactly. We've been in a continuing resolution for the past six years, but that's not "sequestration." It's true that, running up to a budget deadline, there have been talks of closures and furloughs, but that's not what this is.
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Call it by another name, but the effect is essentially the same.

LineInTheSand said:
Not have there been 8% cuts, or spending limits, over the past 6 years.
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In DCspeak, since a CR at last years spending levels prevent the baseline budgeted 8% increase the current budget is "cut" by 8% until the new appropriation is enacted.

LineInTheSand said:
That said, the fact that we've had to use continuing resolutions to have ANY budgets, and the fact that they may very well enter the sequestration storm... is an absolute failure of the system.
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It is a failure of those we have entrused to caretake the "system"

LineInTheSand said:
Cuts need to happen. That's 100% true, but the fact that President Obama and Congress couldn't figure out a way to provide more organized, but large, cuts it a failure to both.
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Concur 100%
 
KPEngineer said:
Call it by another name, but the effect is essentially the same.

In DCspeak, since a CR at last years spending levels prevent the baseline budgeted 8% increase the current budget is "cut" by 8% until the new appropriation is enacted.
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I wish it was just another name. But it sadly isn't.

The two concepts are very different, when considering the size and the organizations affected.

If you do a little digging you'll find a number of "fee-based" organizations that are apparently subject to "cuts" despite being non-governmental and not supported with tax dollars.

That wasn't so with budget freezes and continuing resolutions.
 
LineInTheSand said:
I wish it was just another name. But it sadly isn't.

The two concepts are very different, when considering the size and the organizations affected.

If you do a little digging you'll find a number of "fee-based" organizations that are apparently subject to "cuts" despite being non-governmental and not supported with tax dollars.

That wasn't so with budget freezes and continuing resolutions.
Click to expand...

Conceptually different, but essentially the same in practice. Is sequestration applied to 2012 budget levels or 2013? If we are talking 2013, then since we are currently operating at 2012 levels wouldn't sequestration mean an increase in spending and not a decrease? If we are talking 2012 than it can only apply to the CR which expires in four weeks so is it really going to have any effect at all?

If you are not appropriated anything then what exactly is being "cut"?

The problem as I see it is primarily managerial. Just becasue the personnel budget is "cut" by sequestration does not mean that it all has to come out of salaries. Sequestration does not "cut" personnel budgets by 20% so why are the agencies essentially cutting it 20% through furloughs and then pretending their hands are tied?

Government Managers are abhorantly bad. That is why I am an ex-government manager. Given the opportunity to assimilite, I chose the red pill. (as I mix my movie metaphors)
 
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So you can call up the sprit of cCaptain at will huh?
:rant2:
My impression of cCaptain.

And now we resume your scheduled programming
 
KPEngineer said:
Conceptually different, but essentially the same in practice. Is sequestration applied to 2012 budget levels or 2013? If we are talking 2013, then since we are currently operating at 2012 levels wouldn't sequestration mean an increase in spending and not a decrease? If we are talking 2012 than it can only apply to the CR which expires in four weeks so is it really going to have any effect at all?

If you are not appropriated anything then what exactly is being "cut"?

The problem as I see it is primarily managerial. Just becasue the personnel budget is "cut" by sequestration does not mean that it all has to come out of salaries. Sequestration does not "cut" personnel budgets by 20% so why are the agencies essentially cutting it 20% through furloughs and then pretending their hands are tied?

Government Managers are abhorantly bad. That is why I am an ex-government manager. Given the opportunity to assimilite, I chose the red pill. (as I mix my movie metaphors)
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I believe KPE has it right. In fact, after these "cuts" the operating budget will be identical to that of 2010!. If between 2010 and now, departments added 20% to staff necessitating the aforementioned 20% cuts, something is wrong. I am not quite sure if all budgets (IE capital improvements) are impacted like operating budgets are. I also believe there is alot of political fear mongering going on. I am not so sure KP has alot of fat to trim.
 
So, I am going to be honest, I have read the news, watched the news, read articles, listened to the radio, and read this forum, and I still do not get what is going on. I have even looked up the definition of sequestration, and just to be honest I still don't get it. Is there anyone who could help me out? It is really frustrating me, because I love the political stuff, and this all ties in with that (and a lot of other things), but I just don't understand. If anyone could help me I would really appreciate it.
 
Those federal departments talking on the issue are casting the "cuts" in the most dyer terms in an effort to bring the executive and legislative branches to their senses in finding a more rational way to cut expenses, which must be done.

Other federal departments are proceeding in an oblivious manner. In the past week your government and mine has announced the building of two prisons in the Dominican Republic and, yesterday, the funding of a US government mortgage program for Haiti. In the latter case I suggest that we mercifully keep our government's expertise at home unless we can permanently export Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
 
USMA2020 said:
So, I am going to be honest, I have read the news, watched the news, read articles, listened to the radio, and read this forum, and I still do not get what is going on. I have even looked up the definition of sequestration, and just to be honest I still don't get it. Is there anyone who could help me out? It is really frustrating me, because I love the political stuff, and this all ties in with that (and a lot of other things), but I just don't understand. If anyone could help me I would really appreciate it.
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Don't feel bad. Congress doesn't understand it either.
 
I've heard recently from some people who would know better than me that the budget is cut in half for next year and it isn't affecting operations per se but it will effect things like travel and pay increases for teachers and such. While I can't confirm this entirely it seems most likely. KP has survived on a minimum budget before (my years) and shall endure through this some more. Atleast the Barracks and pier are being renovated.
 
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